It is estimated that around 50% of pregnant women will develop acne at some stage during their pregnancy. So if you are experiencing pimple outbreaks be reassured, you are not alone.

But not all women will find themselves stepping back in time to their adolescence. Some women actually report their skin is much clearer when they are pregnant and look as if they are almost glowing. This is generally due to the increase in circulating blood volume, giving a ruddy appearance to the face. It is also helped by the extra oil production which occurs in the skin during pregnancy.

Many parents-to-be spend hours wondering who their baby will take after. Will they have blue eyes like theirs? Or will they have striking green eyes like Great Aunt Jane?

Gender prediction is usually a hot topic of conversation after you’ve shared that you are expecting. Whether it is well-meaning partners, friends or family, everyone wants to get in on the act of predicting your baby’s gender. The odds are evenly split at 50/50 but that doesn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of anyone playing the game! These days, the technology we have available to us means the guess work element can be taken away if we prefer, but for moms and dads who choose not to find out, the gender prediction activities are fun to do.

Many soon-to-be parents use the baby’s heart rate as a means to discover what the gender will be. No one knows exactly how or when this idea came to be, but it has been around for generations.

Cramps in early pregnancy are relatively common. In the majority of women light cramping is nothing to be concerned about, and tends to improve without any specific management or care. Occasionally, however, womb cramping can be a sign of pregnancy complications, so it is always worthwhile to be checked by a healthcare practitioner such as your GP, midwife or obstetrician.

No matter how much planning goes into conceiving a baby, it’s important to remember that pregnancy is not an exact science. The closest we can get is to pinpointing exactly when conception has occurred, is when a woman has undergone in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Based on this, a more accurate estimation of due date based can be made.

Knowing the exact moment when the sperm fuses with the egg, however, is impossible.

Being pregnant for the first time is one of the most eye-opening experiences a woman will go through. No matter how much people explain to you or how many books you read, nothing seems to prepare you for it.

Breaking the pregnancy news to your partner has to be one of the most exciting parts of becoming a new parent. Some mothers choose to keep the news secret for a while and really savour the knowledge that they alone know. Others are busting to tell their partner as soon as they find out. Breaking the news of your pregnancy can be as matter of fact or fun and light-hearted as you like.

For years before our children are even conceived, we dream and plan for what gender they will be. Because, although we know that gender selection is out of our control, on some level we still think it’s possible to sway the odds in favour of having a boy or a girl.

The hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin in is more commonly known by its abbreviation: hCG. Don’t be alarmed if you’ve never heard of it before; hCG, like so many other pregnancy-specific references, is unique only to pregnancy. There will be a lot of strange terminology and experiences you will encounter over the next 9 months, but before too long, hCG and a whole lot of other terms will become like a second language to you.

It’s amazing how at birth most babies are of similar length, yet by the time they reach adulthood the differences in height are considerable.

One of the more unusual symptoms of pregnancy can be a strange metallic taste in the mouth. When this first appears it can be an almost vague, unpleasant taste which is difficult to describe. But it is very real and is so common that it actually has a name – Dysgeusia. Some people refer to this by its sensation and just call it “metal mouth”.

One of the classic symptoms of early pregnancy is nausea or morning sickness. An estimated 78% of pregnant women will experience it in some form. However, the term morning sickness is not really a good name because it is rarely restricted to just the early hours of the day. Pregnancy-related nausea is a much better name, which is why some experts refer to it as this.

When you are pregnant, everyone’s an expert with an opinion, even if you aren’t that interested in hearing it! Luckily most people will be good hearted about sharing their stories and theories on what they feel is right for you and your baby. Even the gender of your little one will be open to discussion. Since time began, people have been trying to guess babies’ sex long before they are ready to be born.

Before you may even suspect you are pregnant, your body will be undergoing significant changes, which are designed to support your developing embryo. Surges of pregnancy hormones such as oestrogen, progesterone and HCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin), will all synchronise to create a nourishing, protecting environment for your newly fertilised and implanted egg.